1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to attachments for unmodified, conventional hammers, specifically to attachments that will allow the starting of a nail, screw, or other fastener, into a work piece with the use of only one hand, and then continuing the hammering of the fastener with virtually no change in the rhythm of the hammer swing.
2. Background of the Invention
In order to help the understanding of the description of the background of this invention, the parts of a conventional hammer are first identified for reference as follows:
Refer to FIG. 2E to locate parts
                FRONT        UPPER        LOWER        Head        Cheek        Claw        Sleeve        Socket        Handle        Neck        Shoulder        Face        Poll        Throat.        
Generally, the conventional manner used for starting a nail, or other type of fastener, into a work piece (for example a board or other surface) is to hold the nail in one hand against the work piece and then strike the head of the nail with a hammer face to get the nail started. Then, the nail will stand by itself, and can be struck with the hammer, using only one hand, as many times as necessary to complete the driving of the nail into the work piece to the depth desired.
However, there are numerous occasions when one needs to start a nail, or other type of fastener, with the use of only one hand. Such occasions include the following:                1. When working overhead and needing to hold the work piece in position with one hand while using the other hand to start the nail. A specific instance is when installing ceiling drywall.        2. When one wishes to reach a longer distance from one position without the need to reposition oneself. A specific instance is when standing on a ladder leaning against a work area and wishing to place nails to either side farther than can be safely reached with both hands, without the need to climb down from the ladder, reposition the ladder, climb back up the ladder, and place the nail.        3. When one needs to place a nail below the bottom of his feet, but cannot safely reach the area with both hands. A specific instance is when standing on the edge of a roof and needing to drive nails into the facia board.        4. When one needs to place a nail, or other type of fastener, into a narrow space which is not wide enough to accommodate one hand to hold the nail.        5. When one wishes to place a nail, or other type of fastener, where the visibility of the area needed to align the hammer with the fastener is limited.        6. When one wishes to place nails above his head without standing on a ladder, stepstool, scaffolding, or the like, to get high enough to hold the nails with one hand. A specific instance is when placing nails into the area of sheets of drywall on a wall above one's head, but remaining standing on the floor.        7. When one wishes to place nails, or other types of fasteners, that are too short to easily hold with one hand. A specific instance is when placing carpet tacks, or upholstery tacks or staples.        8. When one wishes to place nails, but, for whatever reason, such as the result of an injury, has the use of only one hand.        
There exist a number of forms of prior art that allows one to start a nail, or other type of fastener, with the use of only one hand. Many of these achieve this end through the modification of some part of the hammer itself. These are not considered here, since this present invention pertains to an attachment that achieves this end without requiring any modification to any part of the hammer itself.
There exist more than a dozen different forms of prior art that are attachments that allow one to start a nail, or other type of fastener, with the use of only one hand, without requiring any modification of any part of the hammer itself, including the following U.S. patents:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 131,211 to Daugherty (1872).
2. U.S. Pat. No. 469,710 to Munn and Rowe (1892).
3. U.S. Pat. No. 640,169 to Bargar (1900).
4. U.S. Pat. No. 903,095 to Johnson (1908).
5. U.S. Pat. No. 951,646 to Lambert (1910).
6. U.S. Pat. No. 1,379,838 to Salomaa (1921).
7. U.S. Pat. No. 1,928,268 to Sanders (1933).
8. U.S. Pat. No. 2,574,304 to Vigil (1951).
9. U.S. Pat. No. 2,722,251 to Dillon (1955).
10. U.S. Pat. No. 3,125,143 to Wilson (1964).
11. U.S. Pat. No. 4,270,587 to Ludy (1981).
12. U.S. Pat. No. 4,367,778 to Bradbury (1983).
13. U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,679 to Nitzberg, et al (1987).
14. U.S. Pat. No. 4,798,107 to Furey (1989).
15. U.S. Pat. No. 4,843,925 to Furey (1989).
16. U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,048 to Matechuk (1993).
17. U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,959 to Speare (1998).
18. U.S. Pat. No. 6,282,988 to Erickson (2001).
However, all of these prior art forms each have more than several of the following disadvantages, arranged in the following order: safety, convenience, optimum use, range of use, expense, and nails before other fastener types:                1. Attachment not securely attached to hammer and could fly off in use.        2. There is no back-up safety mechanism to prevent the attachment from flying off in the event it becomes detached during use.        3. Attachment securing mechanism is of such a design, and/or employs such a material, that a relatively low number of attachment-detachments would result in the mechanism failing to secure.        4. Repeated attaching and detaching from a hammer would relatively soon lead to fatigue and breakage of the securing mechanism.        5. Attachment is composed, at least in part, of materials possessing low strength or durability properties.        6. Restricted to being used with a limited, in some cases only one, hammer type or shape.        7. Precision requirement of the design and the inevitable increased likelihood that the product will not function in the desired manner, especially with a variety of hammerhead shapes.        8. Attachment fits over the striking face of a hammer and requires that once a nail has been started in the work piece, the attachment must be removed before the hammer can be used to further strike the nail with the face in the conventional manner.        9. Attachment fits over the striking face of the hammer and must be removed if not needed to start the next nail, or other fastener type.        10. An additional step or movement is required to release a nail from the attachment before continuing to hammer the nail into place, preventing a smooth, continuous rhythm in the striking of the nail.        11. Attachment would not hold a nail, or other fastener type, particularly a large one, in all positions of the hammer, especially when the work area is below the user.        12. Requires that a nail be started with some portion of the hammerhead other than the striking face, such as with the cheek area of the head or with the claw area. Then, in order to continue driving the nail in the conventional manner with the striking face of the hammer, one must change the swing by turning the hammer either ninety or 180 degrees.        13. Nail, or other fastener type, must be started with the cheek area of the hammer, thus requiring more than twice the width of area for the swing as that needed when using the face of the hammer in the conventional manner.        14. Use of the attachment is complicated in that it requires the user to place a nail, or other fastener type, in a different portion of the attachment, depending on whether the work area is above or below the user.        15. It would be relatively difficult to insert a nail, or other fastener type, into the attachment.        16. Attachment would be difficult to attach to a hammer.        17. Attachment, if not removed before using the claw to extract a fastener that became bent during starting or driving, or that for some other reason needed to be pulled out, could prevent the claw from grasping the fastener.        18. Attachment, if not removed before using the claw to extract a fastener, could jam or damage the attachment.        19. Attachment would be difficult to remove, and if left in place would interfere with using the claw by marring a work surface.        20. Attachment would be relatively difficult to remove from a hammer, requiring in some cases other tools such as a pair of pliers or a screwdriver.        21. Attachment fits over the striking face of the hammer, and unless removed after starting a nail, receives repeated impact in the driving of the nail, tending to wear or break the attachment prematurely.        22. Contains sharp edges and/or corners that can snag on or abrade or cut the user, his clothing, the hammer holster, other tools, or the toolbox.        23. Contains exposed magnets that can inadvertently attract metallic items when not desired.        24. Magnet used to hold fastener receives repeated impact, leading to loss of magnetism.        25. Attachment can lead to accumulation of residual magnetism by the hammerhead, resulting in the hammer attracting other metallic items when not desired.        26. Complication of the design and/or costly materials requirement, resulting in an increased expense of manufacturing.        27. Expectation of requiring the user to replace a failed, uncommon part, rather than the entire unit, due to cost considerations.        28. Attachment would not accept or hold a broader-bodied or larger-head type fastener, such as a screw.        29. Attachment would not accept or adequately hold a staple.        30. Attachment would not accept or hold, or allow the starting of small, short fasteners.        